Dec. 5 Update: The lot did not meet its reserve and is presently for sale with a buy-it-now price of … $119,500.

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By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

How many Albert Pujols Rookie Cards do you own?

Need a few more … about 315 more?

Now’s your chance as a massive stash of 2001 Donruss Elite Pujols RCs have hit the block via Heritage Auctions. The lot of 315 cards is pretty outrageous … considering just 1,000 serial-numbered copies of the card were produced — 900 standard cards and 100 autographed Turn of the Century versions.

“This opportunity to control such a significant percentage of one of the most important trading cards of the 21st century is unprecedented in the collecting hobby,” said Chris Ivy, Heritage’s Director of Sports Auctions. “We can only imagine what the value of this collection will be once Albert has rewritten the record books at the close of his career.”

And this isn’t just any stash of cards, either.

Ten of the cards are autographed, while 149 are raw and ungraded copies. Meanwhile, Beckett Grading Services slabbed 114 of the cards with the remainder graded by PSA and other companies. Raw copies of the card typically sell for $600 or less, while signed copies typically go for as much as $1,200.

“Our consignor bought every one he could find,” Ivy said, “and has designated Heritage as the auctioneer to present this massive collection for sale.”

The auction, which already has had bidding top $31,000 hours after it opened, closes on Dec. 4.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

The laws of supply and demand, however, say Larry is potentially right. If we were all fighting over 700 cards (thinking it was 1000) and the price was $X, imagine what could happen if 1000 cards were suddenly truly available. If we have said through our wallets that all 1000 cards (or so we thought) were collectively worth $N yesterday, not knowing 30% were privately accounted for, if these 300+ cards hit the market the $N could stay the same but that $X could drop tomorrow.

Actually Larry makes a good point. If the original owner of these 315 cards bought every one he could find on eBay, and now he is no longer buying then there is one less person wanting the card, and that one person would have been a pretty persistent high bidder if he bought EVERY one he could find. Not to mention that if the lot sells for a low price the new owner might sell some of them off 1 at a time which would mean a few less people needing the card for their PC and hence even fewer bidders in the long run. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the price of this card drop by 10-20%, depending on what the new owner decides to do with them. Of course if the new owner wants to continue the accumulation, then the price might climb further. So it really depends on what the new owner does.

Boy Oh Boy, I believe who ever was smart enough to snag up 315 of these elite cards is a genious………I cannot see this collection going for any less than $100,000 if so the owner is taking a beating on his head……DD